Aspiring quitters go online
( 2001-06-01 11:56 ) (1 )

China's anti-smoking campaign took to the Internet Thursday in the Sohu. com VIP-chat-room, where seven health professionals, including Jin Dapeng, vice-director of the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, were bombarded with questions o(c)n smoking-related health problems.

One Sohu.com surfer, identified only as "dark crow," posted a particularly desperate message: "I have been smoking for 15 years, but I cannot stop it. An X-ray examination indicates that I am have thickening grains in my lung, and I cough a lot seeming to have always sputum in my throat. How can I be saved from my addiction to smoking?"

The response, from Professor Tian Zhengchun of the China Health Education Research Institute, provided hope: "You have to first really realize the harms of smoking and drum up necessary decisiveness and stamina. After that you have to go about quitting properly. For example, you can announce your decision to the people around you, and leave temporarily friends who cannot quit smoking immediately."